Hoosiers age 65 and older are now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr. Eric Fish, president and chief executive officer of Schneck Medical Center, shared that news during Tuesday’s weekly community conference call led by the Seymour hospital.

For information about getting vaccinated and scheduling an appointment, go to ourshot.in.gov. Schneck operates a vaccine clinic on the third floor of the Schneck Professional Building.

Dr. Christopher Bunce, public health officer for the Jackson County Health Department, said the county is seeing “some very small but incremental improvements in case rates.” With that being said, he still urged caution because case numbers could easily go up.

Fish said there are seven COVID-19 in-patients at the hospital. The average is about four or five.

Since the county’s vaccine rollout, Bunce said he’s optimistic the county can stay at an orange level threat.

Bunce addressed variant strains of COVID-19 that have been appearing across the globe. He said the variants, some of which have appeared in South Africa and the United Kingdom, make the virus more transmissible but not more deadly.

He said the COVID-19 vaccines appear to be effective against variants with the degree of effectiveness slightly diminished.

Bunce clarified that vaccines are effective against variants because they can be used for two different purposes.

“Keep in mind that vaccinations are used to both prevent and mitigate disease,” he said.

Mitigation is when a virus is less deadly as a result of a vaccination. This leads to decreased hospitalizations, serious infections and deaths.

Bunce said the county does not need to change its approach against COVID-19 spread based on the variants, and the more people who wear their masks and prevent infection, the less likely there will be future mutations.

One person on the call had a question regarding if someone fully vaccinated should quarantine if they are exposed to someone with COVID-19.

Bunce advised under Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that people should quarantine when being exposed, even if fully vaccinated.

Jeff Hubbard, the county’s human resources officer, said there has been an uptick in the number of positive COVID-19 cases within county employees.

He also said several inmates at the Jackson County Jail in Brownstown have tested positive for COVID-19 and that Sheriff Rick Meyer is monitoring the situation.

Ryon Wheeler, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Seymour, spoke on the call to announce Anthem insurance holders get a free membership to the club.

The state announced Tuesday that 4,404 Jackson County residents have tested positive for COVID-19, an increase of 10 from Monday’s total.

The positivity rate for Jackson County is at 9.3%, a 0.9% increase from Monday’s 8.4%, according to the Indiana State Department of Health’s COVID-19 dashboard.

The rate is determined by a seven-day moving average with a six-day lag to give time to receive comprehensive results. The current positivity rate for the county would be for Jan. 20 to 26.

Jackson County is classified as a level 2 county and remains an orange level threat.

No new deaths attributed to COVID-19 were reported in Jackson County on Tuesday, meaning the death toll remains at 48.

There have been 43,024 COVID tests administered to 16,765 individuals in the county since March 18, 2020, an increase of 234 from Tuesday’s total.

The latest results are as of 11:59 p.m. Monday. The coronavirus dashboard is updated at noon daily.

According to the ISDH’s Indiana COVID-19 vaccination dashboard, 3,705 or 8.3% of 44,231 Jackson County residents have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and 879 or 1.9% of county residents have been fully vaccinated.

This is an increase of 217 county residents receiving their first dose since Sunday. Six more have been fully vaccinated.

Since Dec. 14, 586,937 Hoosiers have received their first dose, while 155,362 are fully vaccinated.

On Tuesday, 1,567 additional Hoosiers across the state were diagnosed with COVID-19 through testing at the ISDH, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and private laboratories.

This brings the total number of Hoosiers known to have had the novel coronavirus to 629,903 following corrections to the previous day’s total.

Indiana’s total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 is 9,677 with 65 new deaths being reported Tuesday.

For the state, a total of 7,067,175 tests have been administered, an increase of 27,552 from Monday’s total.